VIDEOS

Between September 15, 2011 - March 28, 2013, the Mosque Alert creative team, led by playwright/director Jamil Khoury and videomaker Deann Baker, developed and disseminated thirty-six videos, including two video essays, twenty-four single character video blogs, nine two-character conflict scenes, and one compilation video. These videos comprised the first four steps of a nine step online civic engagement and new play development process that Khoury designed to assist him with writing the play. With the release of each video, Khoury would pose questions to which online participants would then respond. This viewer feedback proved to be invaluable throughout his writing process. To date, over 25,000 people around the world have engaged with these videos.

It's important to note that the six characters featured in this early iteration of Mosque Alert's online development are not necessarily the same characters that comprise the full length stage play that eventually emerged. In the play, there are now eleven characters, some of whom are influenced by the original six characters, others of whom appeared at later points in Khoury's creative journey.

Introducing the Characters

Imam Mustafa Khan - played by Khurram Mozaffar

(3 min, 43 sec) | October 5, 2011Imam Mustafa Khan discusses his perspectives on what it means to be an American, and in particular, what it means to be both American and Muslim.

(2 min, 55 sec) | October 5, 2011Mustafa Khan, the Pakistani born Imam of a mosque in Naperville, Illinois, takes a moment to share his personal story.

(2 min, 44 sec) | October 5, 2011Imam Mustafa Khan reacts to the resistance he and his community are facing as they try to build a new mosque in Naperville, Illinois.

(3 min, 26 sec) | October 5, 2011Imam Mustafa Khan shares the challenges he faces at home, in his marriage, as well as in the public sphere, due to his community's proposal to build a new mosque in Naperville, Illinois.

Charles Baker - played by Don Bender

(2 min, 49 sec) | October 11, 2011Charles Baker, a Republican member of the Dupage County Board and candidate for Mayor of Naperville, Illinois, discusses his upbringing, family life, and political career.

(4 min, 4 sec) | October 12, 2011In this video blog, Charles Baker reflects on some personal challenges he faces at home with a career minded wife and a liberal gay son.

(3 min, 9 sec) | October 12, 2011Charles Baker waxes poetic on what it means to be an American.

(3 min, 56 sec) | October 12, 2011Charles Baker expresses his opposition to a proposal to build a new mosque in his hometown of Naperville, Illinois.

(11 min, 12 sec) | February 2, 2012"Stay at Home Mom" explores tensions long thought resolved, yet raging beneath the surface, over the roles of mothers and wives in American society. The unabashedly masculinist Charles Baker (played by Don Bender) and his born-again feminist wife, Emily Baker (played by Justine Serino) revisit the classic battle-of-the-sexes against the backdrop of sweeping social change.

(10 min, 53 sec) | March 14, 2012"Virginity Redux" tells the story of Jennifer Baker (played by Melissa Kong) and her first love gone sour. Jennifer loses her virginity to Kareem, a dashing young French Algerian Muslim man she falls in love with in Paris, only to later be rejected by Kareem for essentially not being a virgin. As Jennifer’s hurt morphs into anti-Muslim rage, her brother Carl Baker (played by Nicholas Cimino) attempts to stage an intervention and bring back the “real” Jen.

(7 min, 52 sec) | April 18, 2012“Headscarf Pharmacist” tears the veil off headscarves, motherhood, and polite liberalism in a lively one-on-one between the wives of the men at the nexus of Naperville’s mosque controversy. Ayesha Khan (played by Fawzia Mirza) confronts Emily Baker (played by Justine Serino) after Emily’s daughter, Jennifer, mockingly refers to Head Pharmacist Ayesha as the “headscarf pharmacist.”

(8 min, 31 sec) | June 27, 2012“Ambition Impossible” depicts concerned mom, Emily Baker (played by Justine Serino), and her dismayed daughter, Jennifer Baker (played by Melissa Kong), who find themselves at a crossroads over Jennifer’s plans to become a high school French teacher. What Emily views as a lack of ambition, Jennifer sees as pursuing her life’s dream.

(13 min, 12 sec) | August 1, 2012"Like Father, Like Son" scours for common ground between a conservative Republican father and his liberal gay son. Former “chip off the old block” Carl Baker (played by Nicholas Cimino) goes toe-to-toe with his father, Charles Baker (played by Don Bender) in this intergenerational contest. Charles struggles to accept Carl’s homosexuality and,even more so, his political liberalism.

(10 min, 46 sec) | September 5, 2012"To Veil or Not to Veil" positions the hijab-wearing Ayesha Khan (played by Fawzia Mirza) against anti-veil crusader Jennifer Baker (played by Melissa Kong) in a lively rumination on what the Muslim hijab (headscarf) represents. Does wearing the veil constitute feminism or oppression? As meanings and symbols get tossed about, a healthy dose of irreverence gets thrown in the mix.

(15 min, 50 sec) | October 23, 2012“The Imam and the Homosexual” probes the “strange bedfellows” political alliance between Imam Mustafa Khan (played by Khurram Mozaffar), spiritual leader of a besieged Naperville, Illinois mosque, and Carl Baker (played by Nicholas Cimino), the openly gay son of the imam’s chief nemesis. As Imam Mustafa struggles to reconcile his support for civil rights with his religious and cultural objections to homosexuality, Carl imagines the Muslim and LGBT communities uniting against their common enemies.

Compilation Video

(20 min, 58 sec) | March 28, 2013 "Meet Mosque Alert" is a compilation of video clips created as part of playwright Jamil Khoury's online new play development process designed to inform the writing of his new play Mosque Alert. The compilation tells a full story in and of itself, and provides a helpful overview of the early stages of Mosque Alert's development.